Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
The present application includes a hard copy appendix comprising pertinent specification pages and drawings of co-inventors"" U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/844,862, filed Apr. 27, 2001, by ZHANG et al. for MOLECULAR MECHANICAL DEVICES WITH A BAND GAP CHANGE ACTIVATED BY AN ELECTRIC FIELD FOR OPTICAL SWITCHING APPLICATIONS as relates to subject matter claimed in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention.
(5.1) Field of Technology
The field of technology relates generally to scanning, copying, and printing.
(5.2) Description of Related art
Both the business community and the general public have adapted rapidly to global markets and mobile equipment for voice and data communications. In the state of the art, however, pocket-sized and briefcase-sized computer, computer accessory, and telecommunication appliances generally do not offer display resolution nor size needed to easily read standard documents, including electronic mail. For this reason, it is highly desirable to print documents for reading, preferably contemporaneously at any location in which the appliance is being used. Thus, with the increasing use of mobile computing and telecommunicating devices, there is a growing need for mobile printer apparatus and multifunctional devices that provide a combination of computer, telecommunications, and scanner-copier-printer functions.
Multi-pass scanning technology is fairly well developed. An array of sensors scans across a document swath-by-swath, collecting optical data, and storing the data digitally until the full length of a page is recorded. The data collected is transformed into a computer image file. Basically, a light source illuminates a thin horizontal strip, called a xe2x80x9craster line,xe2x80x9d of the document. The reflected light is captured by a charge-coupled device array and converted from an analog voltage to a digital value by an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter. In desktop scanners, digital data can be compiled sequentially in memory. For handheld scanners, because the array is not necessarily sequentially nor consistently moved across the document, computer algorithms (software, firmware) are provided for xe2x80x9cstitchingxe2x80x9d the scanned pieces together based upon content analysis and comparison of scanned regions. As described in the Detailed Description of the embodiments of the present invention, such known manner handheld scanning and stitching processes can be used in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention. Highly advanced color technology for handheld scanning devices is also known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,578,813 (1995), divisional U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,139 (1996), and divisional U.S. Pat. No. 5,825,044 (1998) by Allen et al. for a FREEHAND IMAGE SCANNING DEVICE WHICH COMPENSATES FOR NON-LINEAR COLOR MOVEMENT (collectively xe2x80x9cthe Allen patentsxe2x80x9d), are assigned to the common assignee herein and incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. Sophisticated hand motion navigation and data stitching is described in the above-referenced Allen patents.
In operation, the handheld scanners of the state of the art read a scanned document, converting the images into digital data which is stored in a memory. The stored data then must be transferred (generally through a computer microprocessor) to a compatible hard copy apparatus to obtain a print where, in an overall system view, only plain paper type print media generally is employed. Conventional printer technologies are not conducive to the use of mobile appliances. Ink, toner, and thermal-based technologies produce permanent print, but are not pocket-size compatible and require power in excess of adequate small cell battery operation.
Electrostatically polarized, bichromal particles for displays have been known since the early 1960""s. The need for an electronic paper-like print medium has recently prompted development of at least two electrochromic picture element (pixel) colorants: (1) a microencapsulated electrophoretic colorant (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,124,851 (Jacobson) for an ELECTRONIC BOOK WITH MULTIPLE PAGE DISPLAYS, E Ink Corp., assignee), and (2) a field rotatable bichromal colorant sphere (e.g., the Xerox(copyright) Gyricon(trademark)). Each of these electrochromic colorants is approximately hemispherically bichromal, where one hemisphere of each microcapsule is made the display background color (e.g., white) while the second hemisphere is made the print or image color (e.g., black or dark blue). The colorants are field translated or rotated so the desired hemisphere color faces the observer at each pixel.
FIGS. 5AA and 6AA schematically depict this type of prior art. Electronic ink is a recent development. As illustrated in FIG. 5AA (Prior Art), E Ink Corporation (Cambridge, Mass., www.eink.com) provides an electronic ink in a liquid form that can be coated onto a surface. Within the coating are tiny microcapsules (e.g., about 30 xcexcm to 100 xcexcm in diameter, viz. about as thick as a human hair, thus quite visible to the naked eye). Each microcapsule 6 has white particles 7 suspended in a dark dye 8. When an electric field is applied and sustained in a first polarity, the white particles move to one end of the microcapsule where they become visible; this makes the surface appear white at that spot. A carrier 9 is provided. An opposite polarity electric field pulls the particles to the other end of the microcapsules where they are substantially hidden by the dye; this makes the surface appear dark at that spot.
The Xerox Gyricon sphere is described in several patents. FIG. 6AA (Prior Art) is a schematic illustration of this type of sphere. U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,854 (Sheridon ""854) describes a bichromal sphere having colored hemispheres of differing Zeta potential that allow the spheres to rotate in a dielectric fluid under influence of an addressable electrical field. U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,103 (Sheridon ""103) describes a display system using bichromal spheres in a transparent polymeric material. U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,027 (Sheridon ""027), issued Feb. 18, 1997, for SOME USES OF MICROENCAPSULATION FOR ELECTRIC PAPER, describes a printer. Essentially, each sphere 10 (again, about 30 xcexcm in diameter) has a bichromal ball 13 having two hemispheres 11, 12, typically one black and one white, each having different electrical properties. Each ball is enclosed within a spherical shell 14 and a space 15 between the ball and shell is filled with a liquid to form a microsphere so that the ball is free to rotate in response to an electrical field. The microspheres can be mixed into a substrate which can be formed into sheets or can be applied to a surface. The result is a film which can form an image from an applied and sustained electrical field. Currently, picture element (xe2x80x9cpixelxe2x80x9d) resolution using this Gyricon spheres is limited to about 100 dpi.
To meet the needs of the highly mobile computing and telecommunicating public, there is a need for fully-portable, low power, handheld, scanning-copying-printing systems. Typically, a hard copy printed document will be read only once then discarded or saved for only a short period of time. Therefore, it is also highly desirable that the printed media be reusable so the user is not required to carry a large supply of paper while in mobile operation. Thus, there is a need for a systematic scanning-copying-printing and media system solution that is conducive to pocket-size compactness, battery operation, and media reuse.
In a basic aspect there is provided a hard copy system including: rewritable media having a bistable, electrochromic, colorant susceptible to localized electrical fields; associated with said media, an electrode subsystem producing said localized electrical fields wherein said fields are associated with data to be printed; and affixed to said electrode subsystem, a scanning navigation subsystem for positioning said data on said media.
In another aspect there is provided a hard copy rendering method including: selectively providing localized electric fields, each of said fields conforming to a predetermined picture element size; portably transporting said fields across a printing medium such that a bistable electrochromic colorant of said medium is subjected to said electric fields; and manipulating said electric fields for producing printed data in said electrochromic colorant and rendering said hard copy in rewritable form.
In still another aspect there is provided a scanning printer including: a housing adapted for handheld use; and mounted within said housing, an electrode array fixedly aligned for printing data rasters, a navigation subsystem for tracking motion of said electrode array, a data port for transmitting data with respect to said data rasters, and connecting said array, subsystem and port, electronic circuitry associated with said tracking and said data rasters.
In another aspect there is provided a handheld copier system including: rewritable media having a bistable, electrochromic, colorant susceptible to localized electrical fields; and in a hand-held scannable housing, sensor means for generating image signals representative of an image as said sensor means is scanned across the image, and in a fixed position relative to said sensor means, navigation means for forming at least one position signal indicative of inherent structure related properties correlated to said image signals as said sensor means is scanned, and connected to said sensor means, processor means for processing said image signals and position signals, connected to said processor means, memory means for storing image signals and position signals, and connected to processor means, electrode means for producing said localized electrical fields wherein said fields are associated with said image signals and said positions signals for printing a copy of said image on said rewritable media.
In another aspect there is provided a method for scanning and printing, the method including: scanning a document with a self-contained, hand held, scanning and printing apparatus; and printing data collected during said scanning on a rewritable medium with said apparatus such that said document is reproduced on said medium.
The foregoing summary is not intended to be an inclusive list of all the aspects, objects, advantages and features of the embodiments of the present invention nor should any limitation on the scope of the invention be implied therefrom. This Summary is provided in accordance with the mandate of 37 C.F.R. 1.73 and M.P.E.P. 608.01(d) merely to apprise the public, and more especially those interested in the particular art to which the invention relates, of the nature of the invention in order to be of assistance in aiding ready understanding of the patent in future searches. Other objects, features and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following explanation and the accompanying drawings, in which like reference designations represent like features throughout the drawings.